


SandersSides: Into the Spiderverse

by FandomsUnite17



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series), Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 18:55:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25540186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FandomsUnite17/pseuds/FandomsUnite17
Summary: Virgil has been an orphan living on the streets for three years and refuses to get close to anyone for fear of losing them. His life is turned around when he wins a free scholarship to a local boarding school. The first few weeks were uneventful except for his slowly dropping grade until he's greeted one night by a spider like none he's ever seen.Throughout the next week, he discovers new powers and abilities popping up, each one harder to control than the last. But that's just the beginning. Three inhuman people show up at his school, claiming to be from entire other dimensions. They also claim to be going through the same things as him — struggling to control new and unexplainable powers. And weirdest of all, he believes them.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	1. Greetings

“Okay, let’s do this one last time. My name is Virgil Sanders. I was bitten by a radioactive spider and for the past week, I have been struggling to keep the pieces left of my life together. I guess I should tell you the rest. I… lost my family three years ago. Started living on the streets. Finally had it all figured out when I applied for some one-in-a-million chance for a free scholarship to some boarding school and… actually won. So I moved into my new room, which thank-goodness they let me have to myself for now, and failed miserably at half the classes. But I had a good enough grade they let me stay. And eight days ago this… thing found it’s way onto my desk. It looked like a spider, but it was covered in this smokey, shadowy, black stuff I couldn’t make sense of. And it bit me. And since then I haven’t been able to control… anything. So to avoid causing any more trouble than I already do I’ve been spending all my free time on the roof. Alone. Trying to figure out what the hell any of this means... Man, sometimes I hate being me. Of all the people to get stuck as… why do I have to be me?”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Virgil sighed, turning to the stairs to head back inside. It was starting to get too cold at night to stay on the roof too long. He was halfway to his dorm when he was stopped by one of his teachers, Mr. Everling. “Ah, Virgil! Er, Mr. Sanders. I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”  
“My grades?”  
“Sort of. Come with me to my office and I can explain to you what I mean.” So Virgil followed him to his office and sat down in front of his desk. “I’m sure you are aware that your grades are beginning to present quite an issue. If you can’t improve them soon, I’m afraid to say you may be expelled from school.”  
“Yeah, I know. I’m working on it.”  
“And that’s exactly what I want to talk about. I’ve noticed you’ve been acting… very tired lately, and I can tell the extra work you’re putting into this is not doing you well. You’ve been acting more stressed than usual. So I wanted to propose a way for you to get your grades up without having to push yourself so much. Would you consider doing a personal essay for me? I have been talking to the other teachers about this and to the principle and we have agreed that if you get full grades on this essay it will count towards twenty-percent of your grades. But that means if you don’t do very well… it will almost definitely lower your grades enough to have to be expelled… so there is a huge risk…”  
“And if I don’t do the essay at all?”  
“Then you can simply move on as you are now. Which is a very slow decline in your grades, likely caused by physical inability due to how you’ve been pushing yourself so hard. It’s completely your choice, but I just want you to know if you decide not to do this essay you will have to work even harder if you want to continue attending this school…”  
Virgil hung his head. If he got kicked out, he’d be back on the streets again. He knew this fix would be temporary, but… he wasn’t ready for it to end yet. So he couldn’t not take the essay, because if he didn’t take it at all then his grades would just keep going down faster the worse he got. But with all these new powers to figure out, to learn to control, there was no way he could do the essay and be able to concentrate enough to even remotely get a good grade on it. So if he didn’t do the essay, he’d be too stressed and get kicked out, but if he did do the essay, he’d be too distracted and still get kicked out! “Uh, what’s the essay about?”  
“Well, I noticed you’ve never written anything about fiction in any of your creative writing essays, so… I wanted to challenge you to write a short story about the everyday life of a superhero.”  
“A… a superhero?”  
“Yes. A superhero. I chose this particular theme because I’m pretty sure it’s not something you’ve ever written about before.”  
“It’s not.”  
“Good! Then it’s perfect. It’s perfect because that means it will be a concept entirely new to you. It will be a challenge. Something you have to learn from scratch.”  
“Oh.” Virgil didn’t know what else to say to that. The very idea of writing in a style he’s completely unfamiliar with made him feel sick.  
“So, Mr. Sanders. Will you do the essay?”  
“Um…”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Virgil looked up at the clock. Eleven-twenty-six. It had been an hour and a half since he’d started brainstorming and he had gotten nowhere. Maybe he should take a break. He stood up from his chair and tried to pull back from it, but found it dragging along with him. He looked down to see his hand stuck to it. Of course. Great. He balanced his foot against it and pulled. And pulled. And pulled. Crash! He picked himself up off the floor and stormed straight up to the roof. This was useless! He was getting nowhere whatsoever with this story, and he wasn’t getting anywhere in the way of controlling these powers, or whatever they are. He was halfway to the edge when he noticed a figure staring blankly over the city. Before he could backtrack the figure heard him and turned around. He froze. They locked eyes. And they both shuddered at once. He was frozen silent, but the other man spoke. “Ah. You are genetically altered as well.”  
“Uh, genetically altered?” He shook his head and blinked out of his daze. “Is that what this is? A genetic alteration?”  
“I believe so, yes.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Let me begin for the last time. My name is Logan Sanders. Exactly eight days, nineteen hours, and thirty-seven minutes ago I was bitten by a radioactive bio-technological arachnid. I am from the year twenty-four-sixty-seven. Bio-technological humanoids are heavily discriminated against. Because of this, I was excused from my relatives, or family if you prefer a looser term, when the arachnid’s bite changed my species from entirely human to a bio-technological humanoid. As I had no other place of residence I was forced to move into a Homeless Shelter. On the morning of my eighth day in the aforementioned shelter, I awoke to a dimensional rift presenting itself in place of the wall beside my bed. Of course, it was stupid of me to attempt to touch it… Ridiculously stupid of me. But there is no way to change the past, so it is useless to dwell on the matter. After touching the dimension rift I found myself deposited onto a rooftop in an alternate dimension.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He blinked at the young man standing before him. Oh. He didn’t know there were any others like him. Of course, the chance of him being the only one in all of existence that had experienced such a phenomenon was microscopic. Still, somehow he was surprised to meet another going through a similar dilemma. He wasn’t sure he hadn’t expected to find any others, but he simply… hadn’t. “Ah. You are genetically altered as well.”  
“Uh, genetically altered?” The boy shook his head and blinked a few times, then finally seemed to process the information. “Is that what this is? A genetic alteration?”  
He had thought it was obvious. “Yes, I believe so.” Unless… “Have you not experienced alterations in your body’s abilities?”  
“Uh, yeah, I have, but... “ The boy shrugged. “Just hadn’t thought of like, genetic modifications. Are you saying someone did this to us on purpose?”  
“Of course not. I am stating simply that our bodies have experienced genetic alterations.”  
“So you’re just saying we were both bitten by freaky spiders and now we’re different and you don’t actually know why.”  
“Precisely, yes.”  
The boy groaned. “Ooookay, great. Just great. Well then if you can’t actually help me I’m going back to my room and I suggest you do the same if you don’t wanna sleep through classes tomorrow.”  
“Ah, no, you misunderstand. I do not attend this school. I am from an alternate dimension.”  
The boy glared. “Sure you are. Goodnight.”  
“Sir, wait!” The boy stopped and turned to look back at him. “What year are we currently in?”  
“Seriously? Wait year are you in?” He muttered something about crazy people under his breath.  
“If you are inquiring as to my home dimension I had been residing in the year twenty-four-sixty-seven. What year are we currently in, in this dimension?”  
The boy sighed. “Twenty-nineteen. Now if you’re done playing games with me, can I go back to bed?”  
“I was not indulging in any sort of entertainment, I was simply conversing with you. But if you wish so, then consider the conversation finished.”  
“Finally.” The boy left immediately.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Virgil was heading back to his room after his day’s classes the next day when he was once again stopped by the same teacher as the day before. “Mr. Sanders! I have good news for you!”  
“Oh?”  
“We’ve found you a roommate!”  
“A… a roommate?”  
“Yes, isn’t that exciting?! Funny thing is the two of you have the same surname. Weird, huh? I actually just directed him to your dorm a minute ago.”  
“Okay. Uh, thanks I guess? I-I gotta go.” He raced back to his dorm and threw the door open. Just like he had said, there was a teenage boy standing in the middle of the room, who turned around to look at him. He was wearing a long-sleeved jacket with a large hood that hid his face from view.  
“Roman Sanders. Nice to meet you.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Listen up everyone, I’m gonna do this one more time from the beginning. My name is Roman Sanders, and last week my parents sold me off to government testing, where they infused a tarantula with radiation and tried to mash my DNA with that spider’s. I’m sure you know the rest. The experiment went wrong, so they locked me up. I broke out of the facility. Couldn’t bring myself to go back home… So I tried to find other ways to survive on my own. And then this… portal-ish thing showed up, and before I knew it, I’d been dropped into an entirely different world! I’m not sure how to describe it, but I had a really strong feeling I should be going to this school, so now here we are."

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Virgil froze as he stared at the boy in front of him. That same feeling as last night overwhelmed him. “You’re like me.”  
“And you’re like me. Ha! This is incredible! You look entirely normal!”  
“Yeah? Why wouldn’t I look normal?”  
He flipped off his hood and pulled off his jacket and the pair of gloves he had been wearing, revealing skin covered entirely in thick brown fur. Then he took off the beanie hat he’d been wearing under his jacket hood and revealed a second pair of eyes right above the first. “Because you’re like me, and I’m…” He threw his arms up. “I’m this. So what’d the testing do to you?”  
“Testing?”  
“Yeah? The testing? That made you… like what you are?”  
“I didn’t go through any testing! I was just bitten by some freaky smoke-spider!”  
“Oh. Well… that’s awkward. Uh, did I introduce myself yet? My name is Roman.”  
“Yeah. You did.”  
“Aaaaalright. I didn’t catch what your name was, actually.”  
“Good. I didn’t throw it.”  
Roman held back a groan. “Okay, fine! Which bed is yours?”  
“Bottom. You get the top bunk.” Virgil took a deep breath and sat at the desk, directing his gaze back to his essay.  
“So…” He glared at Roman, who was perched on the top bunk swinging his legs off the front. “What would I have to do to get that name?”  
Virgil sighed. “If I tell you, will you shut up?” He nodded. “Fine. It’s Virgil. Ya happy?” Roman grinned and nodded, and Virgil sighed in response and looked back at his work.  
Ten minutes later Virgil heard a voice. “What are you workin’ on?” He spun around and glared. “Oh, right, sorry. Shutting up…” The next time Virgil looked back his new roommate was asleep.  
Virgil woke to a pair of hands roughly shaking him. “Hey, you’re gonna be late. Virgil, right? Virgil?”  
Virgil groaned and smacked his hands away. “Leave me alone, I’m going.”  
“Alright, alright. Next time I’ll let you miss class.”  
“Whatever.” His new roommate grumbled something under his breath and left, and he finally pulled himself off his desk and trudged over to his dresser.  
On his way to his first class, he thought he saw a dog out of the corner of his eye running through the hallway. Well, actually it was a puppy — it looked really young. But when he looked back again it was gone. Funny, he’d felt really weird for a second. The same kinda twisting,. He’d thought he’d been seeing things. But then he could have sworn he saw it again during his second class, curled up in the corner behind the door. And he knew he saw it in the cafeteria because it was under his own table sniffing for scraps and had bumped into his leg. Had no one else noticed it? It was still young, but it looked like a golden retriever, so it wasn’t exactly a toy breed. It was a fairly big dog. And he was sure pets weren’t allowed in the building… He had slipped the dog a scrap from his tray then, and it turned out to be a terrible decision because the puppy followed him like a shadow the entire rest of the day. Once his last class was over he and the dog went back to his dorm room, where he he flopped down in his desk chair and looked down at the fluffy creature angrily. “Why are you still here?! Go away!”  
The puppy cocked its head to one side and suddenly it was covered in a small cloud of light blue glitter. Next thing he knew, standing before him was a teenage boy with curly, golden-brown hair, freckles spotting only his cheeks, and a pair of rectangle frames. “I can leave if ya want, but I’m here because… I’m from another dimension, and when I saw you… I got this weird kinda feeling that… maybe you’re… like me?”  
“Y-You just… you were… and then… oh, forget it. So you’re from another dimension too?”  
“Too? There’re others?”  
Virgil sighed dramatically. “Yeah, there are others…”


	2. Protective Nature

“Hey there! Okay, let’s do this! Oh, I’m excited! Okay, my name’s Patton Sanders, and I’m a Shifter! Should not have said that so loud… Anyway, I’m from another universe where Shifters are… basically treated like the scum on the bottom of everyone’s shoe. Oh, you don’t know what a Shifter is? Well, lemme tell ya! Shifters are people who are born able to shift into one specific animal, and Shifters are pretty much partway their animal even when they’re not shifted because it’s part of our mentalities too! So I’m a Shifter and I turn into a golden retriever puppy! Oh, right, Shifters have animal forms have a set age that doesn’t ever change. Anyway, last week I was… it scares me just to think about it… it was huge! I’d never seen one so big before! Never in all my life… I can almost still feel it on my leg… But after it bit me… things started happening. Things I couldn’t control. My skin started to stick to things, I got way stronger all of a sudden, and weirdest of all is something that’s only happened four times. I can get really big. Like not just taller, bigger in every way, almost cartoon-like! And then some portal thing sucked me in and I woke up beside some sort of school.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“How many others are there? And are they from here or are they from my world? Oh, are any of them Shifters?”  
“Shifters?”  
“Oh, right! I keep forgetting this world doesn’t have Shifters. Shifters are people like me that can turn into an animal!”  
“Oh. Well, I don’t think they can turn into any animals, but there’re two others. They’re from who knows what dimensions. One guy’s in this room with me now, and the other guy says he’s like some sort of cyborg thing I think. I don’t know where my freakish roomie went. He had the same last class as me.”  
“Do you think he’s okay? Should we go look for him?”  
“What he does is his own problem. I got work to do." Virgil turned his attention to his essay, still laid out on the desk from this morning.  
“Oh, should I go…? I don’t wanna keep you from doing… uh, what are you doing?”  
Virgil sighed. “I’m trying to write an essay.”  
“Oh, sorry. Should I go…?”  
Virgil opened his mouth to speak and the door swung open, cutting him short. “Hey, guess who I just met in the hall?! Apparently, I’m not the only one from another dimension! And get this, this guy’s one of us! Awesome, right?!"  
Two people stepped into the room. One of them was his new roommate, and the other… "Oh, you again…"  
"Ah. Greetings." It was the man from the rooftop.  
Patton gasped and stared at them. "You two are both like me!"  
Logan nodded once, but Roman raised an eyebrow suspiciously as he took off his items. "Who are you?"  
"Oh, my name's Patton! I'm a Shifter. Oh, duh, I'm from another dimension."  
Virgil glared at them all. “Can the chit-chat take itself to the hall?! Or just stop altogether, that’s fine too. I’m trying to do this stupid essay, okay?!”  
Everyone silenced, staring at him. “You know, this is my room too now, so you can’t actually kick me out, oh Shadow King.”  
“Fine. Then everyone else can leave.”  
“They’re my guests.”  
Virgil groaned loudly and stood up so violently that his chair fell straight back onto the floor. He snatched his essay off the desk and stormed out of the room, up to the roof. He slammed down his notebooks and plopped down beside them with a huff. “Why couldn’t I just be a normal homeless boy with freaky spider shadow powers?! God, what am I saying? I wasn’t normal even when I was… well, normal…”  
“That sentence was… paradoxical.”  
Virgil leaped to his feet and spun around. There, standing at the door to the rooftop, was the stiff man his new roommate had brought in — the man he’d met up here on the rooftop. “What are you doing here?! Did you follow me?!”  
“Yes, I did.”  
“Why?! If you hadn’t noticed, I am trying to get this essay done. So thanks for dropping in, but I don’t want you here. So bye.”  
“I simply wished to be available if you were in need of any assistance. You looked distressed when you left.”  
“Distressed. No shit. Try pissed off. I didn’t ask for all this multi-dimensional, magic spider bullshit. Okay?! So yeah, I am distressed. I just want to finish this essay and hopefully get good enough grades they don’t kick me out.”  
“Why would they kick you?”  
Virgil stared blankly for a moment. “Oh god, you’re serious.”  
“Of course.”  
“Wow, got it. Not the brightest tool in the shed here. I didn’t mean literally getting kicked, I mean they would expel me and make me leave.”  
“Ah.” Logan nodded slowly, but this response had only given him more questions. Even before he was biotechnological, he was never the greatest at acting human. “If you wouldn’t mind, would you care for assistance with this essay?”  
Virgil shrugged. “I doubt you could help. I’m supposed to write an autobiography of a superhero’s daily life. Cheesy fun stuff.” He groaned. “I can’t write fun stuff. I’m just not good at writing cheesy, happy stuff where everything turns out all right in the end. It’s just unrealistic.”  
“So don’t end the story in a positive way. The content we often see of superheroes contains the superheroes winning the battle in every fight, but it is very unlikely that they win every battle they enter. So create your story as one where the superhero does not win. Let the villain in your story win. Or if you feel like doing so, you may even abandon the battle entirely. Even someone fictional, like a superhero, very likely does not battle every day they live. Your story could take place within a day that they do not battle at all.”  
“I can’t not put any fighting in at all! This essay decides whether I stay here or not! It’s got to be really clear that it’s about a superhero.”  
“Superheroes are not defined by the fact that they battle villains.” Logan hadn’t said it accusatory or correcting. He simply sounded genuinely confused.  
Virgil shook his head. “You really are a freak, you know that?”  
“Freak. Noun. A thing, person, animal, or event that is extremely unusual or unlikely, and not like any other of its type. Hm… That is an unusual although accurate adjective to describe me.”  
Virgil opened his mouth to respond, but he was interrupted by a scream. He leaped to his feet. “What was that?” They both raced to the edge of the rooftop and looked down, where the sound had come from. Three stories below, in the alley between buildings, a group of men had a young man surrounded. Without a second thought, Virgil leaped off the building, kicked off the building across from them, and landed in the alley. Logan dropped down beside him, and the group of men turned to look at them. “Leave him alone!” Virgil thrust his hands upwards and shadows expanded out of the corners, bathing the entire alley in pitch darkness. Except somehow he could see right through it. He didn’t stop to consider why. He ran right in, taking advantage of the darkness to catch the thugs off guard. He grabbed the collar of one man’s shirt, pulling him backwards, then kneed another in the gut, punched the side of another man’s jaw. But just as he charged for the fifth man, something hit his shin and knocked him straight forwards, and before he collided with the ground a fist hit his face so hard he was flung backward and hit the back of his head roughly against the building’s wall. He groaned and before he even had the chance to open his eyes a hand grabbed his head and slammed the side of his face into the cement. He tried to grab at the man, to do anything, but the man sat down n top of him, pinning Virgil’s arms down with his legs. He screamed out furiously. The man scraped his face across the cement, then twisted it, grinding it harsher and harsher into the rough cement, shredding the skin on the side of his face. He could feel the blood starting to gather in a small puddle and he screamed again. The men were saying something and the one on top of him was laughing his head off. Virgil starting screaming at him, spewing every curse he knew, but the man just laughed harder. Just when he was about to scream for help, something gripped the man on top of him and the man let go to claw at the hand that had just wrapped around his neck. The man was lifted off of him and he scrambled to his feet and stumbled back. Logan had grabbed the man’s neck and was holding him off of the ground by one hand as the man gasped desperately for air. He didn’t have time to watch. Virgil whipped around to find one of the men charging for them. With a furious cry, Virgil latched onto the man’s neck with his teeth, and the man screamed, then stopped abruptly and fell to the ground. He couldn’t think through the adrenaline that was coursing through him right now. He could feel with his tongue that his teeth had elongated and were pointed into dagger-like fangs. Screaming again, he jumped onto another man, taking a chunk of skin out of his shoulder and spitting it into the man’s face. By the time he turned away, Logan was standing over the two other men, breathing deeply but looking otherwise unhurt. As soon as Logan noticed Virgil looking at him he rushed over and let Virgil collapse against him.  
“Virgil!” Virgil groaned in response. He could feel blood running down his neck, probably staining his shirt, and he could taste it in his mouth. The adrenaline was wearing off quickly and he was succumbing to the injuries. “Endure the pain just a few moments longer. I am returning us both to your room.”  
Virgil was in and out of consciousness while Logan dragged him through the halls, and the next thing he knew he was jolted awake by something freezing cold being pressed against the raw side of his face. He screamed and pulled away, vaguely aware of someone saying something to him in a soothing tone.  
Virgil groaned and opened his eyes slowly. Or rather, he tried to, but his left eyes, on the side that had been torn open, would open all the way. It was like something was holding it closed. Slowly he pushed himself upright and looked around. He was on the bottom bunk of the bed in his dorm in the school. There was light shining through the window, showing that not only was it mid-day, but that he was alone. Something moved against his thigh and he heard a soft sound. He looked down to see a small golden retriever puppy curled up against him sleeping with its nose tucked under his leg. Well, he wasn’t completely alone then. Virgil carefully set a hand on the side of his face and found himself touching a thick bandage. He followed the bandage up to his forehead, where it was wrapped around his whole head with a large patch of gauze right in the middle of the back where his head had hit the wall in the alley. He groaned again and looked over at the clock on the desk. Oh, no! “Damnit, I can’t miss any classes!” He swung his legs off the bed and jumped to his feet, but froze when he heard a yelp.   
There was a burst of sparkling blue at his feet and the man who had called himself Patton sprung up in front of him, rubbing his head. “Hey, hey, calm down there, kiddo!”  
“I can’t miss any classes!”  
“No, we know that missing classes would be bad for you. So we talked to the principal for you. We told her that you got attacked and she said that you aren’t expected back in class until Tuesday next week.”  
“The principal gave me free days?”  
“Yeah! You got really hurt…”  
He reached a hand up towards the bandaged half of his face, hesitated, and dropped it. “Yeah…” The entire fight was coming back to him in detailed memory. What had he been thinking?! Why on earth had he gone after them?! And had he really jumped off of a three-story building?! He sat back down on the bottom bunk and sighed. What had gotten into him last night?  
“Uh, Logan brought your papers back.”  
“Logan?” Virgil glanced at the desk and there was, in fact, a neat pile of his assignment papers.  
“That’s the name of the guy who was with you last night. When you were both attacked.”  
“Oh, gotcha. Where is he anyway?”  
“He said he was going up to the rooftop before I fell asleep…”  
“Think we should check if he’s still there?”  
“That might be a good idea. Just in case…”  
Virgil nodded and they both made their way to the rooftop. At first, it seemed empty. Then they saw him, sitting on the raised ledge with his feet dangling off. “Sup. We’re just makin’ sure you’re good?”  
No response. “Heya! You alright…? Logan?”   
They both stepped up cautiously and peered around at his face. Immediately they both shrieked and backed away. His eyes were blank, solid black indents in his face and his forearms were opened, sleek black panels resting against the opening on the inside. His head was lolled slightly to the side and his mouth was hanging open. “What the hell?!” Virgil waved a hand in front of Logan’s blank face. No response. Patton slowly set a hand on his shoulder, and his stiff body rocked forwards. Before they knew what was happening, Patton had leaped off the building and was on his knees, cradling Logan in his gigantic arms. He had become so large that Logan looked like a mere toddler in his arms. Virgil jumped back, staring wide-eyed. “What… the hell… is this?!”  
“I-I don’t know! I didn’t know I could do this again!”  
“Again?!”  
“Well, yeah, it’s happened four times before, but I don’t know how!”  
“And you didn’t think to warn us?!”  
“I-I didn’t think it was gonna happen again!”  
“You didn’t-” Virgil cut himself off with a groan. “You’re kidding me!”  
“I’m sorry…” Patton gently laid Logan down on the rooftop on his back, and as soon he wasn’t touching Logan’s body, he disappeared from above the rooftop.   
Virgil leaped to his feet and raced to the edge, leaning over. “Hey!” He jumped off, banked off the opposite building, and landed in front of Patton. “Jeez, dude!”  
Patton was looking down at himself, confused. “I just went back to normal…”  
“Yeah! Why?!”  
“I don’t know… I guess I only get big like that when I need to?”  
“Hell if I know!”  
"Hm… Oh, Logan! Is he okay?!" Without waiting for an answer, Patton rushed towards the front of the building, hurrying back in.  
"Hey, hold on!" Virgil ran after him, and they didn't stop until they were back on the rooftop. Logan was sitting upright, his legs crossed.  
"Logan, you're okay!" Patton rushed up and dropped beside him, pulling him into a quick hug.  
Logan blinked in confusion as they both stood. "Yes, quite. Was there doubt?"  
"Yeah! We came up to check on you and your eyes were all blank and there was something weird going on with your arms and-"  
Virgil interrupted him. "What was that?"  
"I was resting my cybertronics while rearranging data."  
"Resting your what?"  
"My cybertronics. The physical aspects of myself that are no longer organic. My cybertronics gain energy through external environments, namely the sun. My arms had altered themselves into resting mode, essentially becoming solar panels. I wasn’t in any danger.”  
Patton sighed dramatically. “Oh, thank goodness! I thought something awful had happened to you!”  
“I appreciate the concern, Patton. Virgil, I would suggest we return to your room so you can resume resting.”  
“Oh, uh… Sure, I guess.”  
Patton turned into a puppy with a burst of glittery blue and barked excitedly, tail wagging as he followed them off the rooftop. “So, uh, Logan, was it?”  
“That is my name, yes.”  
“I just wanted to say thanks… You know, for having my back back there.”  
“Back… where?”  
“In the alley. Just… thanks for helping me out. You didn’t have to.”  
“Oh. You’re welcome. Although the level of urgency I felt towards protecting you was unusually heightened.”  
“I was feeling really protective too. Like, weirdly so.”  
They stepped into the room and Logan guided Virgil to the bed, forcing him to sit back down. Patton jumped up and curled against his leg while Logan continued the conversation. “It is possible that the heightened protective instincts are a side effect of our recent transformations.”  
“Oh. Huh. I hadn’t thought of that…”  
“So… It is usually customary to… talk about traumatic experiences…?”  
“Oh. Ugh. Please no. I would really rather not sit and talk about it. It was thrilling enough living through it the first time.”  
Logan sighed. “Oh, thank goodness. I would have been willing to, of course, but… talking about one’s feelings… it’s just not my specialty…”  
“I honestly just don’t want to. Again, it was terrifying enough the first time, without having to go back and relive the whole thing.” Virgil winced as he spoke, slowly putting a hand to his bandages. Patton poked his nose at Virgil’s other hand and whined.  
“Ah, yes, of course, it is probably best that you refrain from talk when you can, it will help aid the healing process.”  
Virgil nodded. “Got it. No talking.”  
Virgil laid back and for most of that day he slept off and on, Patton snuggled up with him the entire time. When Virgil was awake Logan was almost always in the room, usually reading one of Virgil’s textbooks. Finally, when he woke up once again Logan told him that he needed to change his bandages, and Patton hopped off the bed and changed back to his human form.  
He was sitting at the desk now, wincing and grumbling as they worked to remove the old bandages. It kept sticking and pulling and, in all honesty, it hurt like hell. Patton was soothing him as he slowly tried to move a section of bandage. “It’s okay. It’s almost there. You’re doing great, it’s almost off.” Virgil felt a little embarrassed being talked to like that, but he had to admit it was a little calming, and finally they were all off.  
That was nothing compared to cleaning the wounds. At first they were just rubbing them all off with wet towels, and that didn’t hurt too bad, but then they started putting antibacterial on it, and damn it hurt! He tried to muffle quiet cries of pain as they gently rubbed the stuff in, but the entire half of his head pulsed and throbbed with the white-hot pain. Why can’t it just be over?! Tears started leaking down his face as they continued to work a little quicker. “It’s okay. You’re doing so good! You’re doing so good right now! We’re almost done! Just a little bit longer and it’ll all be done!”  
He was right, of course. Only a moment later they were finished with the cream and moved on to re-wrapping the gauze over the wounds. That part took a lot longer than he thought, and it hurt a lot worse than he thought too. Tears were running shamelessly down his face now, and he was breathing heavy, when he heard the door open and in walked Roman, who was removing his jacket and hat as he swung the door closed. “Oh, damn, I thought I heard… Uh, can I help at all?”  
Virgil barely registered their response, but finally, a few minutes later, they were done, and he crawled back into bed and laid straight as a plank on his back, letting the tears come silently. Patton had turned back into a puppy and was curled up on his chest, head laying a little off of him near the good side of his head. He could hear Logan and Roman talking near him, but he couldn’t understand what they were saying… He was so tired…


End file.
